Our Story

(A note from our director)

I have spoken at length to my students, as well as to the members of the After Hours Big Band, about music as a living art form.  The gist of this semi-soapboxed speech is that the music we play does not need to sound identical to their original recordings.  (This is when I would normally bemoan, “If I wanted to hear the original recordings, I would do just that… listen to the original recordings.”)  Rather, the music lives on because of the people playing it, it is a Living Art Form.

This embodies the After Hours Big Band in my mind: a network of friends who wanted to see their own playing live on after years of playing in collegiate ensembles (as well as high school and middle school jazz bands.)

The original ensemble consisted of educators from Minnesota and Wisconsin; meeting once a month to play through a handful of “old favorites.”  In the years that followed, the group expanded and evolved into both a performing ensemble as well as an educational resource for Twin Cities school music programs.

The After Hours Big Band continues to perform for a variety of events and is dedicated to performing the highest quality of music while reaching a broad variety of audience members.  We have performed community concerts, weddings, private parties, school outreach concerts, alongside wonderful guest artists, and more.

Whether you have found us for the first time or you’ve been with us since the beginning, YOU are a part of our story too.  It is through our musicians, and our audience, that this music-making lives on.  Thank you.

-Michael Pearson, Director

After Hours Big Band